Rival gay marriage rallies held

Published 12:45 am, Monday, May 16, 2011

NEW YORK -- Ruben Diaz Sr., the powerful Bronx state senator, Pentecostal minister and steadfast opponent of same-sex marriage, gathered his flock Sunday for a rally on the steps of the monumental Art Deco courthouse in the Bronx, serenaded by church bands and an ear-piercing soundtrack of Latin song.

The slogan they shouted, aimed at the state Legislature, said it all: "One Man. One Woman. God's Will."

But across the street, on a more modest staircase, stood another Diaz, who had come out to the Grand Concourse on Sunday with a far different intent.

Erica Diaz, 22, the senator's openly gay granddaughter, wanted her grandfather's supporters to know who they were rallying against.

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"I am a Diaz; my family is very political," she said, her pastel pink shirt contrasting to her grandfather's bright white cowboy suit. "It is in my blood to stand up for what I believe in -- regardless of who I am up against."

Her supporters numbered a couple dozen, including her mother, sister and girlfriend.

They spun rainbow umbrellas in the rain and shouted through a bullhorn until a police officer said they did not have the proper permit.

It was years ago that Diaz told her grandfather that she was gay. The experience, she said, was a positive one.

"He told me that regardless of my decision, he is my grandfather, and he loves me, and he respects me," she recalled. "I respect the fact he believes what he believes."

But she also spoke of the hurt that came with watching him fight against what mattered most to her: her right to marry whom she pleased and to serve in the Navy, where she enlisted as a young woman hoping to make a career. Instead, she admitted she was a lesbian and was discharged shortly before President Barack Obama signed legislation repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy

On Sunday, the opposing rallies carried on more or less peacefully. Erica Diaz stood stoically, waving a rainbow flag, until her grandfather, the keynote speaker, was introduced.

A DJ, with the pomp befitting a hip-hop star, welcomed the senator as "the prophet of justice." In his resonant baritone, Diaz began a fiery sermon. He spoke of loving the sinner but hating the sin; of a Bible that warned against homosexuality; of an institution of man and woman that must remain sacred.

From her perch across the plaza, Erica Diaz decided she wanted to do more than simply shout rejoinders at the crowd. In a calm, stern voice, Diaz approached a group of police officers and told them that she needed to stand by her grandfather before his speech was done.

After a brief negotiation, the officers surrounded Erica Diaz and escorted her into the opposing rally, up the imposing stairs, and to the senator's side.

The senator, midspeech, did not miss a beat as he greeted his granddaughter.Ruben Diaz hugged her, kissed her forehead and with a sweep of his arm, drew her close.

"This is my granddaughter," Diaz said emphatically to the crowd. "I love her. I love her. I love her. I respect her decisions. She does what she wants."

"If you think that in our family, there is hatred, and there is no love, you are wrong," he continued, the last words nearly drowned by a new round of cheers. "Because I love my granddaughter."

After she returned to her side of the plaza, after her girlfriend greeted her with a jubilant kiss and her friends raised her arms in victory, Erica Diaz said that she believed her grandfather, particularly at this moment, needed to be reminded that his family had been watching.

"It was important," she said, of her decision to go onstage. "I wanted him to know that I'm here, and that as long as I am alive, I'm going to stand up for what is right."